Life in Dubai

I have been living in Dubai for seven months now. It is absolutely the most advanced, craziest city I've ever lived and I absolutely love it. I have always loved adventure and have traveled and lived in some interesting places, but this takes the cake. From the sand storms to the lavish malls to the sandy beaches, Dubai truly has it all.

There have been some things that have taken time to get used to here.

1. My Job
I have shifted from being a teacher to being an administrator and it has taken some time to shift into my new role. I have always been a teacher and I love being a teacher. I mean, I really love it. It drives me and helps me get up on all of those early mornings. Schools are alive with enthusiastic, curious students who will lead our world one day. They are my driving force. But being an administrator means you don't have that kind of one-on-one contact with them on a daily basis. No student is calling you his/her teacher. It is almost like a death of some sort. But that connection is replaced with hard-working, eager teachers. Teachers who work day and night to make sure that every single child is making progress in his/her class.

You also have to make hard decisions that sometimes affect many people or cause sadness, anger, or resentment. Change is hard for most people. There are some hard changes we have had to make this year in my school for various reasons and it has been difficult to say the least. But we are making progress as we get to know each other and work together for the same purpose.

Being an administrator does allow me to get out and see things that are happening around the school. For example, we had a Dr. Seuss day where reading was celebrated.

I often find various posters up around the school celebrating initiatives from the government, in science, math, etc.

I also witnessed and participated in an inspection process here in Dubai. My school is accredited through NEASC, but every single school here in Dubai has to go through an inspection process with KHDA (Knowledge and Human Development Authority), our local entity, where a team of inspectors comes for a week and observes, meets, and discusses your progress compared to the previous year. The team was predominately American and I really enjoyed talking with them and share experiences. What I anticipated as being a scary, stressful process ended up being collaborative and rewarding.

2. The driving

Holy God, the driving...it is absolutely insane. From the roundabouts to the tailgaters, to the luxury cars to the 10 lanes of highway, I have had to get used to the way things are done here on the roads. One of the great things about being in Dubai is that you get a brand new car when you rent for a year. So, I have a Nissan Sunny that I rented for about $300/month, all inclusive. I absolutely love it. But seriously, the other drivers can make/break your day. I live in the school's accommodation, so it is very close to my school. It takes me five minutes to get to work. The problem comes when I have to drive to other places. Cars will come up on your bumper and honk and/or flash their lights while maintaining a "safe" distance of an inch or two. It is madness. Often these cars are worth more than a house, but it doesn't matter. Sometimes it is the crappiest cars and don't get me started on the mini buses for workers. They are the absolute worst! There are speed cameras at nearly every mile of the highway, so you would think that makes a difference, but it doesn't seem to make a dent in the problem. Imagine if there were no cameras? OMG!

I also can't get used to the traffic circles/roundabouts here. I can't figure out which lane to use and when you ask people or look online, you get different answers. Last week, a guy missed me by INCHES when get cut in front of me to exit the roundabout. In my opinion, you need to be in the right lane if you are exiting. But everyone has to exit, so I feel more comfortable staying in the right lane, but then I block people from exiting. It is a nightmare.

3. The sandy weather 
I thought when I moved to Dubai, it was going to be luxury everything and lots of sun. I mean, I live a few minutes from the beach and it is always hot...or so I thought. The past few days we have had blinding sandstorms and then a deluge of rain. Once the rain comes, it seems to clear out all of the nasty, sandy weather. I have no lived in a desert before, naturally, so I didn't realize the amount of says. Sounds stupid, doesn't it...but I am serious. Dubai was built on a desert and I live in the middle of it. And as you can imagine sand gets on everything...balconies, inside windows, cars, eyes, etc. I had eye surgery last year to correct my vision and I still have some dryness here and there, but the desert has made it ten times worse. I use Visine quite often!

One of the local newspapers posted this worker trying to keep the sand out of his eyes and these guys crossing a bridge.

4. The diversity

The diversity is utterly amazing here. At last check, we had over 50 different countries represented in our school. The teachers in my school come from Lebanan, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Ireland, Canada and the UK. It is the most diverse place I have every worked and it is glorious. One of the things I have learned is to ask a lot of questions instead of making an assumption. For example, if I see something at work with a teacher, I first ask about what is happening instead of assuming. I also have to be careful as I am the only U.S. trained teacher in my school and I need to learn more about how U.S. curriculum looks in our context within the mission and vision of our school. Honestly, it is about respecting one another and giving other the benefit of the doubt.

5. The services

I am not going to lie, I do have someone clean my house and do my laundry. I have someone wash my car. I have groceries delivered and sometimes meals. I have water delivered every week. I have someone do my nails and take care of my body (massage, etc.). I have a newspaper delivered every morning. Even my new car was delivered to me. I often have food delivered. We have tons of workers at school who immediately help with the call of a name. I seriously don't lift a finger. You can get anything delivered here including: laundry, groceries, spa services, Souq packages (like Amazon), and food from nearly every restaurant (including Dunkin Donuts and Cheesecake Factory!). If it deliverable, it can happen. 

6. Separation of genders, dress code 

My school is mixed, but the majority of schools have separate sections for boys and girls. Additionally, all of the government services here seem to be separated, especially if there is some sort of contact. Yesterday, I actually saw an ambulance especially for women with a female EMT. The gyms and beauty services are also mostly separated. My gym has a mixed area and an area for all females. I have to say, I love the all-female gym. It gives me some sort of power feeling to see a bunch of strong women working out. This has been especially important for me as I get back into shape. Even some of the taxis are by gender like this pink one in front of our school.

The dress code is also a bit different. I am amazed at the women who exercise completely covered because of the heat. I am always dying in my t-shirt and capris. You see a range of different types from completely covered to barely covered (at the beach), but for work, government and normal day-to-day activities, I try to keep my shoulders and legs/elbows covered. One of my favorite stories is Banana Republic and it is very different here. They have the same type of clothing you would see back home and then they have culturally appropriate clothing. I have bought several dresses for work from there.

Well, I guess that is for now. I will try to blog a bit more especially as I am leaving for spring break tonight to Vietnam/Cambodia.